"JOY RIDE" SEQUEL.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 246, 17 October 1929, Page 8

"JOY RIDE" SEQUEL.

PENROSE TRAGEDY. INQUEST ON VICTIMS. NEGLIGENT DRIVING CHARGJ TWO KILLED IN MOTOR SMASH. A .fory of a "joy ride" to Otahuhu a/few drinks, and a smash which causec . the death of two people was told at the Police Court tin's morning when Herbert . Biddulph, of Otahuhu, was charged >itl negligent driving, causing the death of: MRS. EILEEN BEATRICE : PARKIN; , SON, aged 27,, of Khybcr Pass Road, Auckland. ALFRED ERNEST CLARKE, aged 30, married, of Durham Street, Panlnurc Road, Otahuhu. The inquest and the. charge were taken simultaneously. Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., was. on the 1 encli, the chief detective, Mr. A. Hammond, prosecuted, and Mr. A. C. Stevens appeared for Biddulph. When the crash came the car was being driven towards Auckland from Otahuhu on the evening of Saturday, September 14. The car hit a telegraph pole between the municipal quarry and Church Street just after 10 o'clock. Dr. E. A. Koach said that when he arrived Clarke was dead. His skull was fractured. A young woman was lying on the concrete road also suffering from a fractured skull. She was Mrs. Eileen Beatrice Parkinson, and was alive at that time. There was another woman, who appeared to be very hysterical. He spoke to Biddulph, the driver of the car, and he came to the conclusion that-Biddulph was under the influence, of 'alcohol. But he could speak coherently, could walk straight) and was not- drunk. He took no notice of the injured people, but' was very concerned about his ear.. Biddulph attributed the accident, to a blow-out in one of the,tyres. Biddulph referred to this frequently, and demonstrated the burst tyre. • • "'lncoherent and Silly."

"Mrs. Parkinson was unconscious when I saw. her at the Auckland Hospital," said Dr."L. G. Cook. "Her general condition was very low, and it was obvious : that she was: going to die shortly. .There , was a distinct smell of alcohol in her . breath. She died about three-quarters of an hour after she was admitted." ...Mr. Hammond: Did you see the other •woman who. came in with Mre. Parkinson? Dr. Cook: Yes. There was a distinct smell of alcohol about her. Her manner of talk was incoherent and silly. The other passenger in the car was Mrs. -Lewis, who was examined by Dr. S. W. B. He said that after giving her attention in the casualty ward lie allowed her to go home. She smelt strongly of alcohol and eeemed' somewhat elated. Her gait was unsteady. She was not suffering from shock. A plan of the spot where the accident . happened was producea by Norman John ; Till, of'the Government .Land, and Survey ' 'Department.. .There.was an unobstructed "view oil the road a't that point, and there were no cross-roads. '•'Just after five o'clock on the afternoon of September 14, two men and two women come to'the Exchange Hotel at Oneliunga," said George Walter Thomas Daniels, licensee. '[ did not know the men, but I knew the women. They ordered three gins and. a bottle of beer, but I did not give the .tyeer because one of the men appeared to be under' the influence of liquor. The party .only had one.drink'and then left in a car." ' '■ ■••■•• _' ; In reply to the magistrate, witness said the "party ' had hot' bought any liquor to take away. .He knew "of only i one drink the party had, but they may have bene served with others by the barmen. ■:■.", \' V. .' • ' William Craig Patterson said he knew the dead! man, Clarke, by sight. He saw Clarke in the hotel at Oneluinga on the Saturday afternoon. Clurka >vas with another, man and they were, drinking. Both were beginning to show signs of having had liquor, but they were not drunk.

A barman of the Criterion Hotels Otahuhu, Charles Claude. Nicholson, said he knew Clarke by sight and he had seen him in the hotel on the Saturday afternoon. He 'did not have a drink, but bought a half-bottle of dry gin. . Kathleen Lewis, a widow, employed as a housekeeper, said she knew- Mrs. Parkinson, the dead woman, for two years. On September 14," she went round and had lunch with Mrs. Parkinson. About a quarter to four they went to look for Mr. Parkinson, a taxi driver. They spoke to him and later went down the town. Going along Customs Street, towards Gleeson's Hotel, a car passed them, and Mrs. Parkinson thought she recognised one of the two men in the car. Witness and Mrs. Parkinson went into the hotel and witness had a gin and Mrs. Parkinson a bottle of beer. .•-."-. "The two men came info the hotel and spoke to us," said Mrs. Lewis. "Clarke insisted that we should have a drink, but we refused. Mrs. Parkinson had to meet her husband at 4.30. Joy Ride Starts. "We went to the top of Symonch Street in the car, Biddulph driving. We waited for a time, but Mr. Parkinson did not turn up and we decided to go out to Otahuhu. I was in the front seat and Clarke and Mrs. Parkinson in the back." Witness said the first place they slopped was the Exchange Hotel at Onehunga. After having a drink the party drove out to Otahuhu. The hotels were closed. Biddulph pulled the car up in the main street and Clarke was away for about three-quarters of an hour. When ho came back ho said that he had l)con down home. He said his daughter had gone to the pictures and asked the party to go down and have a cup of tea. They all drove down to Clarke's house and arrived there about seven o'clock. They stayed there till a quarter to ten. There were some empty beer bottles on the table. They did not have anything to drink." "Do you mean to say that you waited there until 9.45 and "had nothing to drink** asked Mr. Hunt.—Yes. Mr. Hunt: And the doctors say that you were smelling strongly. You must have been drunk for two or three hours noSS" ?\ you still 8a ? yw had nothing to drink while at the house because if you do I don't believe you' I didn't have anythC'to "Made Up Mind To Tell Lies." Mr. Hammond continued to examine Mrs. Lewi?, when the magistrate again ""•-erposecl.

" She has made up her mind to tell you lies," he said. '"They drank that bottle of gin in the house."

Witness said she had not been out of the kitchen during the evening. Mr. Hammond produced a bankbook which he said was found in Clarke's house. Witness said she thought had been taken out of her purse after, the accident, when she was unconscious. I iter she said it must have been taken ut of her purse while she was at Clarke's house.

• "I think you must have been unconscious at Clarke's house, too," remarked the chief detective; and Mr. Hunt agreed. "Of. course she was," lie said. Mr. Hammond: Do you know that there were five cups found on the table all with liquor iiri them? . Witness:. There were a lot of dirty dishes on the kitchen table. Mr. Hunt:- Did you know either of these two men before?— No. "Look After Your Friends." A'clerk in the railway workshops at Otahuhu, iWilliam Peter Douch, said he was motoring towards Otahuhu on the night of the accident. He stopped to adjust, his brakes when a car passed him- going towards Auckland. Witness then heard a crash, and. he and his brother-in-law went to see what had happened. Biddulph was looking at the front of his car, and witness said to him: "Good God,, man, why don't you look after your friends?" ■' . ■ ■ Biddulph had said: "I have enough trouble without that." Witness added that before the police ! arrived he heard air escaping from one of the tyres. When the police arrived Biddulph had held up a tyre and said: "There you are. That's 'the cause of the aqcident." The case was adjourned till 2.1.3. ' "Thirty-five Miles an Hour." After the luncheon adjournment Douch continued his evidence. He said Biddulph had stated.that he was travelling at not more than 35 miles an hour. Witness heard accused tell a policeman that.he had only three drinks since 11.30 in the morning. A constable had taken possession of a wheel and tyre, and liiddulph had said the policeman had no right to take them. "I went to the police station at Otahuhu on the Sunday morning, and the tyre, which, Biddulph said blew out, was pumped up. 1 . There was nothing wrong with-it," said witness. The inner tube was produced, pumped "P- ■ . :•• ' ■;..=. Evidence corroborating that of Douch was given by his brother-in-law, Kegi nald Davidson. "Biddulph did not seem to pay much attention to his passengers after the acident," said witness. ' Roy Charles Wilson Means, who was at the accident shortly after it happened, said he heard*Bidduiph say that the , 'steering.- was "the cause of the aceiient. ■ Biddulph was not drunk,. but he snielt,of liquor.: He also said that a tyre had blown out and held up the collapsed wheel; It was then that he attributed ;he accident to a blow out. Witness took the tyre and the wheal to the police station. ' '.' ■ (Proceeding.) J